Alaves v Atletico Madrid
Alaves are rooted to the bottom of the table having lost all five of their matches so far and haven’t registered a goal since the opening day of the season, managing a consolation effort in a 4-1 defeat to Real Madrid when already three behind at that stage. Losses to Mallorca, Osasuna and Espanyol all came by 1-0 or 2-0 scorelines, though when taking on the better teams, they’ve gone down by three-goal margins as Valencia (3-0) also found them easy pickings.
That doesn’t bode well ahead of hosting reigning champions Atletico, who remain unbeaten in the current campaign. Diego Simeone’s charges have won four of seven matches across all competitions as the only sides to limit them to a stalemate have been Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao domestically, as well as Porto in Europe.
The visitors haven’t been at their absolute best, with all four of their victories coming by one-goal margins, while away from home, they’re yet to register a clean sheet as Celta Vigo, Espanyol and Getafe all went down to 2-1 scorelines. However, having won seven of eight unbeaten meetings with Getafe over the past four seasons, they should expect to extract maximum points, even if they haven’t triumphed by more than a single striker in any of the past four clashes.
PREDICTION:
ATLETICO MADRID TO WIN
Real Madrid v Villarreal
Villarreal finally picked up their first win of the season last time out hosting Elche, having drawn each of their other six games over 90 minutes. They have however had a number of tough fixtures, which includes taking Chelsea to penalties in the UEFA Super Cup, as well as earning a point against Atletico Madrid domestically and when facing Atalanta in the Champions League.
Real Madrid are picking up steam with five consecutive victories in all competitions, though with just two clean sheets from seven matches this season in total, they remain a work in progress. Carlo Ancelotti has a number of absentees still, particularly in defence, with full-backs Ferland Mendy and Dani Carvajal absent, while Marcelo is unlikely to make the cut as well. With that in mind, Miguel Gutierrez looks set to continue at left-back, with the versatile Nacho operating on the opposite flank, unless Ancelotti prefers to turn to Lucas Vazquez. Elsewhere, Gareth Bale and Dani Ceballos are unavailable, while Toni Kroos is also a doubt.
Unai Emery is likely to be without the trio of Gerard Moreno, Dani Raba and Samuel Chukwueze again, but although that hampers his team in attack, three of Villarreal’s past four in all competitions have seen both teams score as well as a minimum of four goals. They Yellow Submarine managed eight goals themselves from these encounters, and will fancy their chances of causing a makeshift Real Madrid defence some problems.
In fact, four of the last seven head-to-heads have ended in stalemates, with both sides finding the net on each occasion. Although each of those draws have come on Villarreal’s own patch, their three clashes in Madrid over this spell have all been tight affairs with Real only running out winners by one-goal margins.
PREDICTION:
BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
Barcelona v Levante
Barcelona look set for a campaign of struggle on and off the pitch and although they took seven points from their first three games, they’ve since struggled to draws with Granada and Cadiz, as well as being thumped on home turf by Bayern in Europe. They only managed a single goal across those last three fixtures and although young hotshot Ansu Fati could be in line to return to the matchday squad, he won’t be ready for more than a cameo from the bench after such a lengthy injury lay-off.
The departures of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann were always going to limit the attacking threat available to Ronald Koeman, though his options have grown even thinner with Martin Braithwaite, Sergio Aguero and Ousmane Dembele all currently sidelined. Elsewhere, the Catalans are also without both Jordi Albi and Pedri at present, though they’re certainly not without hope of downing a Levante side that have made their own poor start to the new campaign.
The visitors are yet to win this season, but have drawn four of their six games to ensure a place outside of the relegation zone, even taking a point when hosting Real Madrid on matchday two. They’re yet to keep a clean sheet, though with all but one of their six appearances featuring fewer than three goals so far, can realistically aim to keep things tight here. Three of Barcelona’s past four league games have also featured a maximum of two goals, wile the other was a narrow 2-1 win over Getafe, so a relatively low-scoring encounter should be on the cards.
PREDICTION:
UNDER 3.5 GOALS
18+BeGambleAware
GENTING CASINO ONLY OFFERS SPORTS ARTICLES AND NOT SPORTS BETTING
